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Social Learning for Building Community Resilience to Cyclones: Role of Indigenous and Local Knowledge, Power, and Institutions in Coastal Bangladesh

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Social Learning for Building Community Resilience to Cyclones: Role of Indigenous and Local Knowledge, Power, and Institutions in Coastal Bangladesh Copyright © 2021 by the author(s). Published here under license by the Resilience Alliance. Choudhury, M.-U.-I., C. E. Haque, A. Nishat, and S. Byrne. 2021. Social learning for building community resilience to cyclones: role of indigenous and local knowledge, power, and institutions in coastal Bangladesh. Ecology and Society 26(1):5. https://doi.org/10.5751/ ES-12107-260105 Research Social learning for building community resilience to cyclones: role of indigenous and local knowledge, power, and institutions in coastal Bangladesh Mahed-Ul-Islam Choudhury 1, C. Emdad Haque 1, Ainun Nishat 2 and Sean Byrne 3 ABSTRACT. Despite wide recognition of the role of social learning in building community resilience, few studies have thus far analyzed how the power–knowledge–institution matrix shapes social learning processes that in turn foster resilience outcomes. Drawing insights from the biopolitical lens of resilience, we take a critical stance on programmatic interventions for community resilience and social learning, arguing that local knowledge, beliefs, practices, and social memory (SM) are crucial elements in social learning processes for building community resilience to shocks and stresses. In addition, we explore how technologies shape social learning processes and build or strengthen community resilience. Our research, conducted in cyclone-prone coastal zones of Bangladesh, adopts a transformative interpretive framework (TIF) and a community-based participatory approach to empirical investigation. Findings of our research provide evidence that formal institutions frequently exclude indigenous and local knowledge (ILK) from social learning processes, and often subjugate communities to notions of resilience, as defined by nonlocals, that perceive people as subjects of institutional power and objects of scientific knowledge, rather than as active agents. We further found that local communities are able to obtain early warnings of cyclones through ILK of environmental phenomena, such as changing water temperature and animal behavior. Despite an abundance of ILK regarding past cyclones, the 2007 Cyclone Sidr was a surprising event to many and caused considerable loss of life and property. Much of this unpreparedness stemmed from an overall SM deficit—a key to translating knowledge into action. We recommend strengthening efforts to bridge scientific–technical knowledge and ILK to ensure effective social-learning-led resilience outcomes are achieved. Key Words: Bangladesh; community resilience; cyclone; disasters; indigenous knowledge; local knowledge; power; social learning; social memory INTRODUCTION learning and building resilience require an understanding of these The enhancement of community resilience to emerging risks, such dynamics (Cannon and Müller-Mahn 2010, Gaillard 2010, Carr as climate-change-induced extreme weather events, is an issue that 2019). In this regard, some critical social theorists appropriately has received a great deal of attention in both academic and policy assert that resilience is essentially progressive and political as it domains (Cutter et al. 2008, Haque et al. 2018). Recognizing that envisions people as active agents who have control over their own resilience is often socially and politically differentiated, for the destiny, rather than as passive subjects and victims (Grove 2013b, purpose of the present study, we broadly defined “resilience” as 2014b, Evans and Reid 2014, Barrios 2016). Support for this the (inherent) ability of a community to withstand external shocks human agency perspective has also been registered in some and disruptions (Folke el al. 2010, Berkes and Ross 2013, Faulkner applied community resilience scholarship, e.g., focusing on et al. 2018). This fundamentally depends upon the community identifying, building, and nurturing local strengths (Brown and members’ capacity and opportunity for learning from crises and Westaway 2011, Berkes and Ross 2013, Faulkner et al. 2018). In combining different forms of knowledge in order to effectively this paper, we posit that an inter- and transdisciplinary prepare for and respond to future crises (i.e., social learning) engagement with the work of these critical social theorists and (Adger et al. 2005, Folke et al. 2003, Berkes 2007, Pahl-Wostl 2009). applied, pragmatically oriented scholars helps to better With this basic relationship in mind, we investigated risk reduction understand the process of resilience on the ground. and community resilience to nature-triggered extreme events As a mechanism for sharing and developing common (NTEE) and associated disasters through a social learning lens, understandings, social learning for building resilience often and posit that indigenous and local knowledge (ILK) is vital to the involves external deliberative processes (Pahl-Wostl 2006, social learning process and for enhancing resilience to NTEE. Armitage et al. 2008), and several authors have raised concerns Numerous recent studies have rightly elaborated the problematic regarding who defines resilience—and for whom (MacKinnon nature of normative framings of resilience (Cote and Nightingale and Derickson 2013, Cretney 2014). They assert that if external 2011, Christensen and Krogman 2012, Fabinyi et al. 2014, Brown deliberation (e.g., by formal institutions) does not meaningfully 2016) and the fact that resilience has frequently been found to be include local voices, knowledge, and memory, these processes are socially (e.g., gender), politically (e.g., power), and culturally (e.g., likely to subjugate people to the power of institutions and local knowledge) differentiated (Pelling 2011, Grove 2014a, b, scientific–technical forms of knowledge (Adger et al. 2001, Bulley Brown 2016, Jordan 2018). As the normative usage of resilience 2013, Grove 2014b). Here, unpacking the relational matrix of may obscure its relationship with vulnerability, facilitating social power, knowledge, and the institutional context is essential for 1Natural Resources Institute, University of Manitoba, Canada, 2Centre for Climate Change and Environmental Research, BRAC University, Bangladesh, 3Arthur V. Mauro Institute of Peace and Justice, University of Manitoba, Canada Ecology and Society 26(1): 5 https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol26/iss1/art5/ understanding the role of social learning in building community different stakeholders participate in a collective learning platform resilience, which is often ignored in the social learning discourse. to share their experiences and opinions, learn from each other, and come to a common understanding of the issues that Understanding tensions and differentials in power and knowledge contribute to adaptive resilience (Cutter et al. 2008, Johannessen is central to comprehending and explaining the “everyday forms and Hahn 2013, Baird et al. 2014). Social interactions and of resilience” that are discursively produced and reproduced networks are thus central to the social learning process. However, through social learning processes (Pelling 2011, Boyd et al. 2014, it is also essential to critically examine such a normative Brown 2016). Recognizing the plurality of approaches to conceptualization of social learning by investigating how power– knowledge, our intent is to explore diverse meanings and knowledge plays out within institutional contexts that in turn possibilities for alternative forms of resilience (Grove 2013a, 2018, shape social learning processes and resilience outcomes (cf. Pugh 2013, Bonilla 2020). In this study, by taking a critical stance Armitage et al. 2008, Reed et al. 2010, Boyd et al. 2014, Ensor on programmatic interventions for community resilience and and Harvey 2015). social learning, we argue that local knowledge, beliefs, practices, Despite a wide array of literature underscoring the importance and social memory (SM) are critical elements of social learning and utility of ILK for building community resilience to shocks processes for building community resilience to NTEE, such as and stresses (Thomalla and Larsen 2010, Gómez-Baggethun et cyclones and associated storm surges. As well, we assert that it is al. 2012, 2013, Kelman et al. 2012), the incorporation of local important to examine how these elements are being applied in voice in the social learning process that is embedded in the idea power relations and how technologies play out in such social of ILK has thus far been poorly studied (Briggs and Sharp 2004). learning processes. Social learning must build on local strengths (e.g., ILK and SM) In our investigation, we consider ILK as a point of convergence as these represent vital inner capacities or capital of a community between social learning and community resilience scholarship, (Magis 2010). Hooli (2016) extends this notion by asserting that and further link these fields to that of disaster resilience. We achieving resilience among the poorest requires the incorporation document and analyze the effects of various dimensions of ILK of their knowledge and learning. Studies of social learning in reducing risks and building resilience to NTEE, the interplay processes that focus on the implications of the inclusion and/or between ILK and SM in shaping resilience, and the role of exclusion of local knowledge for building community resilience community-based institutions in replenishing SM and in the are nonetheless scant in the literature. social learning process. We then present a critical stance on social It is difficult to operationalize social learning in the case of learning and resilience
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